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Sunday, April 27, 2014

The research is clear. Time together around the dinner table has beneficial results including improving quality of daily life, your children's chances of success in the world, and your family's health according to the Family Youth and Community Sciences Department at the University of Florida. In fact, your child may be 35% less likely to engage in disordered eating, 24% more likely to eat healthier foods and 12% less likely to be overweight (Hammons & Fiese, 2011). A study done by The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse revealed that teens who eat fewer than three family dinners per week compared to those who eat five to seven a week are twice as likely to use alcohol and tobacco and one and a half times more likely to use marijuana.

Saturday, April 26, 2014

Here’s the roundup of what's been popular on The Innovative Educator blog. Below you’ll see the top posts along with the number of page views. I hope there's something that looks of interest to you. If it does, check it out. If you’re inspired use one of those icons below the post to share it with others and/or leave a comment.

Wednesday, April 23, 2014

Do you have students who love inventing, experimenting, and computing? Then check out my article on Answers.com which features quality, free or inexpensive places you can turn to help your students discover, explore, and develop his or her inner inventor. Visit "Help your child get inventive with these resources" to find out about more about resources like Super Awesome Sylvia, Tynker, and Makey Makey.

Sunday, April 20, 2014

“The only difference between smartphones and laptops is that cell phones are smaller, cheaper, and more coveted by students” (Richtel & Stone, 2009). Students, parents, teachers, principals, and elected officials know it is time to lift restrictions and embrace these tools for learning. Below is their wisdom and the research to support it.

Students

In general, 95% of teens use the internet and 74% are “mobile internet users” (Pew, 2013). With or without us, students are using cell phones for learning despite the perception by some parents and teachers that cell phones are distracting to kids. A national study shows that 1 in 3 middle schoolers are using their devices to complete homework and learn better (Tru, 2012).

"... with cell phones tucked in the book bags and pockets of three-fourths of today's teens, many high schools are ceding defeat in the battle to keep hand-held technology out of class and instead are inviting students to use their phones for learning" (Malone & Black, 2010).

Nationally, just over half (52%) of teachers of upper and upper-middle income students say their students use cell phones to look up information in class, compared with 35% of teachers of the lowest income students (Pew Research Center, 2013).

More than half of the world’s population now owns a cell phone, and children under 12 constitute one of the fastest growing segments of mobile technology users in the U.S. according to the The Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop (Shuler, 2009).

Saturday, April 19, 2014

Here’s the roundup of what's been popular on The Innovative Educator blog. Below you’ll see the top posts along with the number of page views. I hope there's something that looks of interest to you. If it does, check it out. If you’re inspired use one of those icons below the post to share it with others and/or leave a comment.

Wednesday, April 16, 2014

It’s not uncommon for today’s children, brought up in a fast-paced, digital world, to become bored and uninterested when visiting cultural institutions. It doesn’t have to be that way though. Sometimes the first step to enjoying art is to look forward to a museum visit as something that is fun. Social media can provide a great way to engage young people during a trip to museum, landmark, or other cultural institution. At the same time, it might just connect them to a new community of others who share a love of arts and culture that they didn’t know they had.

Here are some fun and innovative ideas for teachers and parents to try on their next field trip.

Sunday, April 13, 2014

Listen as bring your own device (BYOD) experts discuss best practices for classroom management. Special guests Jill Hobson @hobsonjill, Michelle Luhtala @mluhtala, and Jason Suter @JKsuter all currently work in BYOD environments and share insights about the following topics:

Getting started with byod management.

Preventing distraction.

Fostering trust in students who are using their own devices.

The role of students in classroom management.

Explaining this will work to administrators.

Getting parents to support responsible use.

Watch the video below then check out the collection of Tweets on Storify filled with insights and resources.

Saturday, April 12, 2014

Here’s the roundup of what's been popular on The Innovative Educator blog. Below you’ll see the top posts along with the number of page views. I hope there's something that looks of interest to you. If it does, check it out. If you’re inspired use one of those icons below the post to share it with others and/or leave a comment.

Wednesday, April 9, 2014

Carly Fleischmann hadn't communicated with many people before she started using social media. That is because Carly doesn't speak. Today however, social media has opened the door to give this very social young lady access to connecting with tens of thousands of people around the world. In the video below, Carly shares, "The moment when I typed on social media for the first time a sense of belonging and a feeling of being heard came over me. I was surprised how I was now a part of society in a social way. It has brought me out of my shell and allowed me to help people learn about autism straight from the horse's mouth."

Social media is an amazing tool to give us a voice, allow us to share our stories, and connect to others. How are using using social media to open up doors to the students with whom you work?________________________________________Get social!-->Follow Carly on Twitter at https://twitter.com/CarlysVoice -->Like her Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/carlysvoice Consider this...How can you use Carly's social media presence as a model for the students with whom you work?

Sunday, April 6, 2014

I had never heard of a Personal Learning Network (PLN) before Lisa Nielsen asked me to write about mine. I did not originally set out to make a PLN. It just sort of happened as I started asking around for interviews for my education blog,Trismegistus Nab-tu-we. I also contacted author Henry Olsen and entrepreneur William Peregoy. They were both helpful in giving me the tools and ideas I needed to start my blog and autodidactism. There are a couple of other student groups I have turned to for advice including Students for Education Reform and The Providence Student Union.

I have a little secret. Aside from my blog, the only social networking site I belong to is Google+ which is only because of my blog. I use Google+ for major posts, but not much besides that. I guess I am kind of old school in using my email for most of my networking. When I started going around looking for people to interview, I used only email. This allowed me to connect to progressive educators and reform activists like John Robinson, James Bach, Lisa Nielsen, and Jerry Mintz, all of whom have been extremely helpful in networking ideas and suggestions. Jerry and Lisa, for example, both recommended I get in touch with Nikhil Goyal. Additional help in getting my voice heard has come from Diane Ravitch and Mercedes Schneider. Lisa too has helped me a lot. Allowing me to contribute this guest post is an example of that.

Saturday, April 5, 2014

Here’s the roundup of what's been popular on The Innovative Educator blog. Below you’ll see the top posts along with the number of page views. I hope there's something that looks of interest to you. If it does, check it out. If you’re inspired use one of those icons below the post to share it with others and/or leave a comment.

Tuesday, April 1, 2014

This week a relative of mine, who is a senior citizen, friend-requested me on Facebook. Not only do I love to see more and more seniors connecting online, I also love that this provides further opportunity for generations to share their lives. Especially these days when families tend to have busy lives and be spread out.

The relative was a cousin who I don’t see much beyond big family gatherings like weddings and funerals. The next day she messaged me. Nice! She was catching on quickly. We had the usual pleasantries. She asked how the family was in Vegas and said she had been there recently but unfortunately hadn't had time to visit. I gave her the update on my Dad's birthday party and also shared that things at work and home were very well and shared a couple pictures of my pups.

I was impressed at how she jumped right in. Bravo! Then she said she had been trying to reach me about something.